{"id":4068,"date":"2016-03-21T08:00:30","date_gmt":"2016-03-21T12:00:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thediplomaticenvoy.com\/?p=4068"},"modified":"2016-03-22T13:15:11","modified_gmt":"2016-03-22T17:15:11","slug":"un-peacekeepers-recalled-for-sexual-abuse-charges","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/thediplomaticenvoy\/2016\/03\/21\/un-peacekeepers-recalled-for-sexual-abuse-charges\/","title":{"rendered":"UN Peacekeepers Recalled for Sexual Abuse Charges"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Madison McHugh<\/a><\/strong>
\nOpinion Editor<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

On March 11, the United Nations Security Council adopted a resolution endorsing special measures presented by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to prevent and combat sexual exploitation by United Nations peacekeepers. Presented to the fifteen-member body alongside several recommendations, the report includes the names of the countries of alleged perpetrators and notes the increase in the number of new allegations in 2015, with 69 of the 99 total allegations consisting of U.N. personnel serving in U.N. peace operations.<\/p>\n

The text, named resolution 2272 and sponsored by the United States, \u201cfurther requested that the Secretary-General replace all units of the troop- or police-contributing country from which the perpetrator is from if appropriate steps have not been taken by the country to investigate the allegation, and\/or when the perpetrators have not been held accountable, and\/or when there has been failure to inform the Secretary-General of the progress of its investigation or actions taken,\u201d according to the U.N. News Centre.<\/a><\/p>\n

The new resolution comes as a result of the increasing backlash against complacency in cases of sexual assault with U.N. peacekeepers despite the U.N.\u2019s \u201czero tolerance\u201d pledge. During the most recent case in Haiti, a Canadian police officer was given only a brief nine-day suspension<\/a> for sexual exploitation during a U.N. peacekeeping mission. The \u201cexploitative relationship\u201d resulted in the birth of a child, the U.N. said. \u201cHe was suspended for nine whole days \u2013 nine days,\u201d said Samantha Power, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, who offered a critique against the U.N.\u2019s failure to act in cases of sexual abuse or exploitation.<\/p>\n

Power also brought up the fact that the sexual-abuse issue is a decade-old debate, recalling the last set of promises to investigate from the Security Council in 2005. \u00a0\u201cDespite the commitment made by this Council over a decade ago to address this problem, the scourge of sexual exploitation and abuse by peacekeepers persists,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Additionally, she lamented on the lack of transparency in the handling of allegations, pointing to the fact that only the Canadian case offered any punishment among 17 fully-investigated cases as of January 2015. \u00a0\u201cWe need to know whether those allegations are being adequately investigated,\u201d she said. \u201cThe victims and their communities \u2026 need to know that justice is being served. Yet the opaqueness of the existing system has made it virtually impossible for any of us to know these things.\u201d<\/p>\n

Prior to the Security Council meeting, Ban Ki-moon also fired the U.N. peacekeeping chief in the Central African Republic, Babacar Gaye of Senegal, \u201cover the force’s handling of dozens of misconduct allegations, including rape and killing,\u201d according to CBC News<\/a>. Although Gaye declined to comment, in his letter of resignation as seen by the Associated Press, he said the issue “could be a systemic problem warranting consideration at the highest level of the organization.\u201d He also claims to have taken a \u201cvery robust stand\u201d against misconduct, and the spokesperson for the mission, Hamadoun Toure, told the AP that at least six were sent home last month alone.<\/p>\n

At the meeting of the Security Council, fourteen of the members voted in favor with one abstention from Egypt, which immediately complained that the issue shouldn\u2019t be used \u201cas a tool to attack troop-contributing countries,\u201d according to The Globe and Mail<\/a>, expressing the main issue with responding to allegations: the U.N. has no standing army and relies on member states to contribute troops and police for its mission. This lack of an army means much of the criminal investigation and prosecution procedures are left to the peacekeepers\u2019 home countries and, up until now, the U.N. has not named the countries publicly. The fact that the Security Council report revealed the countries may create a new dynamic with a focus on reform based in shame.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Samantha Power brought up the fact that the sexual-abuse issue is a decade-old debate, recalling the last set of promises to investigate from the Security Council in 2005. \u201cDespite the commitment made by this Council over a decade ago to address this problem, the scourge of sexual exploitation and abuse by peacekeepers persists,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2636,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_container_layout":"default_layout","colormag_page_sidebar_layout":"default_layout","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[382],"tags":[654,769,770],"class_list":["post-4068","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-international-news","tag-u-n","tag-peacekeepers","tag-sexual-exploitation"],"yoast_head":"\nUN Peacekeepers Recalled for Sexual Abuse Charges - The Diplomatic Envoy<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/thediplomaticenvoy\/2016\/03\/21\/un-peacekeepers-recalled-for-sexual-abuse-charges\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"UN Peacekeepers Recalled for Sexual Abuse Charges - The Diplomatic Envoy\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Samantha Power brought up the fact that the sexual-abuse issue is a decade-old debate, recalling the last set of promises to investigate from the Security Council in 2005. \u201cDespite the commitment made by this Council over a decade ago to address this problem, the scourge of sexual exploitation and abuse by peacekeepers persists,\u201d she said.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/thediplomaticenvoy\/2016\/03\/21\/un-peacekeepers-recalled-for-sexual-abuse-charges\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Diplomatic Envoy\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-03-21T12:00:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2016-03-22T17:15:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Madison McHugh\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Madison McHugh\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.shu.edu\\\/thediplomaticenvoy\\\/2016\\\/03\\\/21\\\/un-peacekeepers-recalled-for-sexual-abuse-charges\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.shu.edu\\\/thediplomaticenvoy\\\/2016\\\/03\\\/21\\\/un-peacekeepers-recalled-for-sexual-abuse-charges\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Madison McHugh\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.shu.edu\\\/thediplomaticenvoy\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/458ac7fc9c156a037fb22cb98c66207b\"},\"headline\":\"UN Peacekeepers Recalled for Sexual Abuse Charges\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-03-21T12:00:30+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-03-22T17:15:11+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.shu.edu\\\/thediplomaticenvoy\\\/2016\\\/03\\\/21\\\/un-peacekeepers-recalled-for-sexual-abuse-charges\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":642,\"commentCount\":0,\"keywords\":[\"U.N.\",\"Peacekeepers\",\"Sexual Exploitation\"],\"articleSection\":[\"International News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.shu.edu\\\/thediplomaticenvoy\\\/2016\\\/03\\\/21\\\/un-peacekeepers-recalled-for-sexual-abuse-charges\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.shu.edu\\\/thediplomaticenvoy\\\/2016\\\/03\\\/21\\\/un-peacekeepers-recalled-for-sexual-abuse-charges\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.shu.edu\\\/thediplomaticenvoy\\\/2016\\\/03\\\/21\\\/un-peacekeepers-recalled-for-sexual-abuse-charges\\\/\",\"name\":\"UN Peacekeepers Recalled for Sexual Abuse Charges - 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